In a couple of days we will leave for Cuba. Our plan is to cycle more or less the whole island. This will take us about 7 weeks.
Now there are some things different on this island. Everybody knows that Cuba is one of the last 'communist' countries in the world. This, and the American blockade, have caused that the country has developed in a unique way, to say it positively.
There are hardly any ATM's, debit- and credit cards are rarely accepted.
Internet is hardly available. So blogging will be difficult and we're not sure if we will be able to post anything at all. Using email, WhatsApp or FB, same problem.
Another peculiarity: no GPS-devices are allowed. What might be the idea behind this??? In combination with the absence of internet this is a serious handicap for me though. I tend to use plotting sites on the web to prepare the route (including elevations etc.) for the next day, load it into my Garmin device and find my way everywhere. Especially the elevation, the meters we will have to climb, determines how hard a day's ride will be. Now we will have a map only, plus the advice of our hosts.
But.... smartphones are allowed. And smartphones have gps and there are various navigation apps. So we will not be totally without the aid of modern techniques, I will only have to adapt to different, less complete, less familiar and less easy methods.
The people though seem to be joyful and friendly, and there's music on every corner. As an author states: Cuba is a marvellous shit-country. We will check all this and report when and where possible.
Our planned itinerary:
Now there are some things different on this island. Everybody knows that Cuba is one of the last 'communist' countries in the world. This, and the American blockade, have caused that the country has developed in a unique way, to say it positively.
There are hardly any ATM's, debit- and credit cards are rarely accepted.
Internet is hardly available. So blogging will be difficult and we're not sure if we will be able to post anything at all. Using email, WhatsApp or FB, same problem.
Another peculiarity: no GPS-devices are allowed. What might be the idea behind this??? In combination with the absence of internet this is a serious handicap for me though. I tend to use plotting sites on the web to prepare the route (including elevations etc.) for the next day, load it into my Garmin device and find my way everywhere. Especially the elevation, the meters we will have to climb, determines how hard a day's ride will be. Now we will have a map only, plus the advice of our hosts.
But.... smartphones are allowed. And smartphones have gps and there are various navigation apps. So we will not be totally without the aid of modern techniques, I will only have to adapt to different, less complete, less familiar and less easy methods.
The people though seem to be joyful and friendly, and there's music on every corner. As an author states: Cuba is a marvellous shit-country. We will check all this and report when and where possible.
Our planned itinerary:
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